Campus News
December 29th, 2025
Savage Mountain B-52 crash to be explored
Free tickets for January 11th PAC event must be reserved in advance
Buzz One Four, a film documentary about the deadly crash of a nuclear-armed B-52 on Savage Mountain, will be shown on Sunday, January 11th at 2 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Garrett College's Daniel Offutt III Theatre.
Three of the five crew members died in the crash, according to the "Buzz One Four" website created in the crew's memory (https://buzzonefour.org/). The B-52D bomber – call sign "Buzz One Four" – crashed in blizzard conditions in Garrett County in January 1964 after severe wind turbulence resulted in structural failure of the plane's vertical tail section.
Filmmaker Matt McCormick's grandfather – Major Thomas W. McCormick – was the plane's pilot and one of the two surviving crew members. Matt McCormick said his 60-minute film, which investigates both this crash and other nuclear-weapons accidents "leaves us wondering if the United States was in greater danger of nuking itself than being attacked by the Russians."
Tickets for screening of the 2017 film are free, but seats must be reserved at: https://performingartscenteratgarrettc.ticketspice.com/buzz-one-four-documentary.
